MEXICO TRAVEL ADS TARGET U.S. LATINOS

Airtime Bought on Univision and Telemundo

MEXICO CITY (AdAge.com) -- The Mexico Tourism Board is launching an $8.2 million North American TV, print and online advertising campaign this week that targets U.S. Hispanics.

'Callejon,' from the new series of TV ads.

'Palenque'

The move is unusual but takes into account that two-thirds of U.S. Latinos are of Mexican origin. The ads depict Mexico as a place visitors not only can see cultural festivities but become part of them.

$845,000 TV buy
The Mexico Tourism Board is spending $845,000 on Spanish-language TV, with buys on Univision and Telemundo, using the tagline "Regresa a Mexico d la mejor manera: de vacaciones" ("Return to Mexico the best possible way: on vacation").

Americans account for 70% of the 20 million annual visitors who earn Mexico about $11 billion a year from tourism.

Print ads will run in Time Warner's People en Espanol. Three of the five spots were directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director of some of Mexico's best-known films including Amores Perros, and a friend of the tourism board's chairman, Francisco Ortiz.

English-language print ads
The English-language spots, by WPP Group's Young & Rubicam, Mexico City, are cleverly aimed at various demographics and carry the tagline "Beyond your expectations." In different commercials, an American woman is invited to join a family wedding, a golfer asks the caddy who found a lucky ball lost on the golfer's last trip to play a round, and a group of older women are charmed by a kindly local guide.

In one spot, an executive back in his U.S. office gets a music-filled call from his new friends in Mexico that causes him to halt the day's frantic business activities and book a trip back to Mexico.